April 2007

I was out to Mangalore to get my sister enrolled in one of the PG dental colleges. It was a pretty long journey and I picked up a couple of books for this journey , one being Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini . I thought this book would be a good filler amongst the non-fiction that I usually read. In the hindsight, it was not a filler at all. Once I started reading it , I could not put it down. I latched on the book and read whenever and wherever I could find time. Here was a book which was very gripping right from page 1.The book made me think about the various characters in the novel (Amir, Hassan, Sohrab, Ali), their emotions etc, the idea of redemption, the phase of childhood , childhood friends, the brutal Taliban regime .

I think the underlying theme of the book is that a man has to stand up and redeem his wrong doings , whatever that might be at whatever cost. Mere escapism is not the solution as it will taunt him through out the life. I don’t think it would be fair enough to narrate the story of the book as I would not be doing a justice to it anyways. All I can do here is to post some of my thoughts about the various things in the book that piqued my imagination.

Firstly, the kite flying event and kite runners. Me , being from India, where Kite flying is an integral part of a festival, I was very much aware of Kite Flying but had never imagined the importance given the kite runner who manages to get the last cut kite.

Secondly, the way Amir deals with his past is wonderfully portrayed. In his childhood , there are umpteen instances where Amir displays a character which is not desirable. The later part of the book where he tries to redeem himself of the sins committed in the past makes me feel that one needs to pay for his past deeds no matter what. If he tries to escape from it, it only aggravates as the time passes.

Thirdly, Hassan’s character in the novel is a gem of kind. A person of unwavering loyalty to the master, a quality tough to find in modern days. A man who would lie for the sake of protecting his friend, a man who gives everything away for the sake of his friend and in the end faces a false accusation from the very person he protects. In spite of all this , he always thinks high of Amir

Finally , the way in which taliban goes on ethnic cleansing which is portrayed in the book makes one’s heart ache for the countless people who have died under the atrocious taliban regime..

I think the characters in the book , the theme of the novel would linger for a long long time.